Developing Growth Portfolio

Developing Growth Portfolio

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Fund’s investment objective is long-term growth of capital.

FEES AND EXPENSES

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The table does not reflect the fees and expenses of variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance policies (together, “Variable Contracts”). If such fees and expenses were reflected, expenses shown would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses	Developing Growth Portfolio Class VC
Management Fees	0.75%
Other Expenses	0.56%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	1.31%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	(0.27%)	[1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	1.04%	[1],[2]

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same, giving effect to the fee waiver and expense reimbursement arrangement described above. The Example does not reflect Variable Contract expenses, fees, and charges. If these expenses, fees, and charges were included, your costs would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Developing Growth Portfolio | Class VC | USD ($)	106	389	692	1,555

Portfolio Turnover.

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in the annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 112% of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

To pursue its objective, the Fund invests primarily in the equity securities of companies the portfolio management team believes demonstrate above-average, long-term growth potential. The portfolio management team seeks to identify companies that it believes are strongly positioned in the developing growth phase, which it defines as the period of swift development after a company’s start-up phase when growth is expected to occur at a rate generally not equaled by established companies in their mature years.

Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 65% of its net assets in equity securities of small companies. A small company is defined as a company having a market capitalization at the time of purchase that falls within the market capitalization range of companies in the Russell 2000® Index. The Fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets in foreign companies, including emerging market companies and American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”). The Fund defines foreign companies as those whose securities are traded primarily on non-U.S. securities exchanges. Because ADRs represent exposure to foreign companies, the Fund deems them to be foreign investments even though they trade on U.S. exchanges. Foreign securities may be denominated in the U.S. dollar or other currencies. The Fund may invest without limitation in equity securities of companies that do not meet these criteria but represent economic exposure to foreign markets, including securities of companies that are organized or operated in a foreign country but primarily trade on a U.S. securities exchange. Although the Fund is diversified across many industries and sectors, its assets may, from time to time, be overweighted or underweighted to certain industries and sectors relative to its benchmark index, the Russell 2000® Growth Index. The Fund’s principal investments include the following types of securities and other financial instruments:

• Equity securities, including common stocks, preferred stocks, equity interests in trusts (including real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and privately offered trusts), partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability companies and vehicles with similar legal structures, and other instruments with similar characteristics. The Fund may invest in any security that represents equity ownership in a company. The Fund considers equity securities to include warrants, rights offerings, convertible securities, and other investments that are convertible or exercisable into the equity securities described above.

• Companies having a market capitalization at the time of purchase that falls within the market capitalization range of companies in the Russell 2000® Index. Such companies predominantly consist of small companies, but also may include mid-sized companies. Small company securities may be traded in over-the-counter markets (which the Fund considers to include the Nasdaq Stock Market).

• Growth companies that the portfolio management team believes exhibit faster-than-average gains in earnings and have the potential to continue profit growth at a high level.

The Fund engages in active and frequent trading of its portfolio securities in seeking to achieve its investment objective.

The Fund may sell a security when the Fund believes the security is less likely to benefit from the current market and economic environment, shows signs of deteriorating fundamentals, or has reached its valuation target, among other reasons. The Fund seeks to remain fully invested in accordance with its investment objective. The Fund may, however, deviate entirely from the investment strategy described above for temporary defensive purposes. The Fund may miss certain investment opportunities if defensive strategies are used and thus may not achieve its investment objective.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

As with any investment in a mutual fund, investing in the Fund involves risk, including the risk that you may receive little or no return on your investment. When you redeem your shares, they may be worth more or less than what you paid for them, which means that you may lose a portion or all of the money you invested in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its performance, include:

• Portfolio Management Risk: If the strategies used and investments selected by the Fund’s portfolio management team fail to produce the intended result, the Fund may not achieve its objective. As a result, the Fund may suffer losses or underperform other funds with the same investment objective or strategies, even in a favorable market.

• Market Risk: The market values of securities will fluctuate, sometimes sharply and unpredictably, based on overall economic conditions, governmental actions or intervention, political developments, and other factors. Prices of equity securities tend to rise and fall more dramatically than those of debt securities.

• Equity Securities Risk: Equity securities, such as common and preferred stock, as well as equity-like securities such as convertible debt securities, may experience significant volatility. Such securities may fall sharply in response to adverse events affecting overall markets, a particular industry or sector, or an individual company’s financial condition. Equity securities are generally subordinated to bonds or other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure.

• Industry and Sector Risk: Although the Fund does not employ an industry or sector focus, its exposure to specific industries or sectors will increase from time to time based on the portfolio management team’s perception of investment opportunities. If the Fund overweights a single industry or sector relative to its benchmark index, the Fund will face an increased risk that the value of its portfolio will decrease because of events disproportionately affecting that industry or sector. Furthermore, investments in particular industries or sectors may be more volatile than the broader market as a whole.

• Mid-Sized and Small Company Risk: Investments in mid-sized and small companies may involve greater risks than investments in larger, more established companies. As compared to larger companies, mid-sized and small companies may have limited management experience or depth, limited ability to generate or borrow capital needed for growth, and limited products or services, or operate in less established markets. Accordingly, mid-sized and small company securities tend to be more sensitive to changing economic, market, and industry conditions and tend to be more volatile and less liquid than equity securities of larger companies, especially over the short term. Mid-sized and small companies also may fall out of favor relative to larger companies in certain market cycles, causing the Fund to incur losses or underperform. The shares of mid-sized and small companies tend to trade less frequently than those of larger, more established companies, which can adversely affect the pricing of these securities and the ability to sell these securities in the future.

• Growth Investing Risk: The Fund uses a growth investing style, which may be out of favor or may not produce favorable results over short or longer time periods. In addition, growth stocks tend to be more volatile than value stocks. Growth stocks typically trade at higher multiples of current earnings than other stocks. Growth stocks often are more sensitive to market fluctuations than other securities because their market prices are highly sensitive to future earnings expectations. At times when it appears that these expectations may not be met, growth stocks’ prices typically fall.

• Foreign and Emerging Market Company Risk: Investments in foreign companies and in U.S. companies with economic ties to foreign markets generally involve special risks that can increase the likelihood that the Fund will lose money. For example, as compared with companies organized and operated in the U.S., these companies may be more vulnerable to economic, political, and social instability and subject to less government supervision, lack of transparency, inadequate regulatory and accounting standards, and foreign taxes. In addition, the securities of foreign companies also may be subject to inadequate exchange control regulations, the imposition of economic sanctions or other government restrictions, higher transaction and other costs, reduced liquidity, and delays in settlement to the extent they are traded on non-U.S. exchanges or markets. Foreign company securities also include ADRs. ADRs may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Foreign company securities also may subject the Fund’s investments to changes in currency rates. Emerging market securities generally are more volatile than other foreign securities, and are subject to greater liquidity, regulatory, and political risks. Investments in emerging markets may be considered speculative and generally are riskier than investments in more developed markets because such markets tend to develop unevenly and may never fully develop. Emerging markets are more likely to experience hyperinflation and currency devaluations. Securities of emerging market companies may have far lower trading volumes and less liquidity than securities of issuers in developed markets. Companies with economic ties to emerging markets may be susceptible to the same risks as companies organized in emerging markets.

• Foreign Currency Risk: Investments in securities denominated in foreign currencies are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, or, in the case of hedged positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. Foreign currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time.

• Liquidity/Redemption Risk: The Fund may lose money when selling securities at inopportune times to fulfill shareholder redemption requests. The risk of loss may increase depending on the size and frequency of redemption requests, whether the redemption requests occur in times of overall market turmoil or declining prices, and whether the securities the Fund intends to sell have decreased in value or are illiquid.

• High Portfolio Turnover Risk: High portfolio turnover may result in increased transaction costs and reduced investment performance.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of any bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. For more information on the principal risks of the Fund, please see the “More Information About the Fund – Principal Risks” section in the prospectus.

PERFORMANCE

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by illustrating the variability of the Fund’s returns. Each assumes reinvestment of dividends and distributions. The Fund’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

The bar chart shows changes in the performance of the Fund’s Class VC shares from calendar year to calendar year. This chart does not reflect the sales charges or other expenses of Variable Contracts. If those sales charges and expenses were reflected, returns would be lower.

Bar Chart (per calendar year) — Class VC Shares

Best Quarter 3rd Q ’13 +18.81% Worst Quarter 4th Q ’18 -23.96%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2018)

The table below shows how the Fund’s average annual total returns compare to the returns of a securities market index with investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund.

Average Annual Returns - Developing Growth Portfolio	1 Year	5 Years	Life of Class	Inception Date for Performance
Class VC	4.88%	4.79%	12.14%	Apr. 30, 2010
Russell 2000® Growth Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)	(9.31%)	5.13%	10.40%	Apr. 30, 2010

[1] For the period from May 1, 2019 through April 30, 2020, Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC has contractually agreed to waive its fees and reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to limit total net annual operating expenses, excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest-related expenses, taxes, expenses related to litigation and potential litigation, and extraordinary expenses, to an annual rate of 1.04%. This agreement may be terminated by the Fund's Board of Directors.

[2] This amount has been updated from the fiscal year amount to reflect current fees and expenses.